Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said on Tuesday they were holding a journalist with dual US-Israeli citizenship in the city of Slaviansk. The online news site Vice News said it was trying to secure the safety of its reporter Simon Ostrovsky.

The self-declared separatist mayor of Slaviansk told a news conference his men were holding the journalist. Vyacheslav Ponomaryov did not name him but journalists working in the area said Ostrovsky had been detained by gunmen on Monday and, unlike others taken with him, had not yet been released.(AP)